Ma Rainey’s Blackbottom

 I have thoughts about the Netflix movie Ma Rainey’s Blackbottom.  I hadn’t read the synopsis for the movie, really and expected it to be about blues legend Ma Rainey but it was about her very troubled trumpet player.  The story was wrapped in a recording session and we saw Ma fighting for her right to be respected but in the end it was a story about a man written by a man.  

Viola Davis’ performance was so huge and juicy I really wanted more of her.  Chadwick Boseman owned his role as Levy and he was amazing in his intensity but...... it really felt like she was used to serve the story of the men in the movie. 

The script implied Ma was bisexual and it referenced Bessie Smith to enforce that, I think, but didn’t tell much of her struggles to forge her own path in music and in life.  She made a lot of money and had a huge influence in music but all we get in the movie is how difficult she was for men to work with.  

I don’t know, maybe I’m being unduly critical.  It was a well-made, well written movie and all the performances were stellar but..... I’m still annoyed by yet another erasure of a woman’s story by men.

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Tarot card of the day is The World Tree (21) from The Green Witch Tarot - Transition; hope in the face of inevitable change.  Ontario is back in a lockdown, not a stay at home order, so things are closed except when they aren’t and people aren’t supposed to gather except when they can/do.  I’m so tired of all this.....